Discussion 1-Reply to the following discussion from David -Anthropology(200 words)
Kinship is the culturally defined social relationships based on marriage or birth while family is the kinship group of at least one married couple sharing the same residence with their children & performing the sexual, reproductive, economic and educational functions.
In marriage I believe it is a cultural union made with a person of the opposite sex that was declared publicly for providing the male and female support needed in raising a family and supporting the desires and needs of each other while living their lives together in positive contribution to society.
As a Christian I believe this union is designed different from nature with Gods love toward us being portrayed in the love between the husband and wife. I believe male and female are not the same and the different sexes define different but equal and necessary roles in a relationship. I think a monogamous upbringing is ideal because it removes the social and relational turmoil that is brought with polygamous and polyandrous practices.
My notion of marriage is culturally based but in my opinion is based on truths in regard to the relationship of love to personal, societal and cultural health. I believe there are absolute truths that cross all cultures. The relationship of husband and wife who are both focused on the needs of the other and willing to endure disagreements and struggles together through selfless acts towards each other brings trust, mutual respect and support that is needed for stable modeling for children to emulate in life.
I think sex is biological not only in regard to genitals but also mental, skeletal and physical. I think the healthy interaction between male and female parents and their proper demonstration of both roles is ideal for a healthy social upbringing of children.
Gender I think is the cultural element applied to different sexes. I think this depends on the cultural parental upbringing and can vary depending on the culture you're in or your desires but doesn't have any impact on the sex of the individual.
Sexuality overlap with gender identity occurs when females or males take on gender specific traits and it is expressed in society being either discouraged or enforced through the societal pressures.
Discussion 2- (Microeconomics) Reply to Professor's comment on initial discussion(Please, answer all of his questions in 100-200 words)
Initial Discussion:
Question 2:
Suppose that A Cleaner World invents a new type of laundry detergent that has an ingredient that stops stains from setting into clothes. If the laundry detergent market is monopolistically competitive, explain what will happen to the price of its product in the short run. What will happen in the long run?
Answer:
In this competition, companies face, as in monopoly, a demand curve with a negative slope. So they have some monopoly power, but that does not mean they cannot get great benefits. The short-term equilibrium shows us that since the company's product differs from the product of its competitors, its demand curve has a negative slope. The maximizing amount of the benefits is found at the point of intersection of the marginal revenue curves and the marginal cost. As the price is higher than the average cost, the company gets benefits.
The long-term equilibrium, the benefits cause the entry of new companies, so the company loses market share and sales, its demand curve shifts downward. This curve is exactly tangent to the curve of the average cost of the company. This implies zero benefits, since the price is equal to the average cost. The company continues to maintain monopoly power, but long-term demand means that the entry of other companies has reduced profits to zero.
Question 4:
Can a monopolistically competitive firm earn large positive profits in the long run? Please explain.
Answer:
In the monopolistically competitive company the production is lower than the one that minimizes the average cost. The entry of new companies reduces profits to zero in both perfectly competitive and monopolistically competitive markets.
Professor's Reply and questions:
In question you two, you correctly state that the firm will set MC = MR. We know that any firm in any type of market will always strive to produce where MC = MR, so that is not unique to monopolistic competition. What is more important for this question is what is the relationship between prices (P) relative to MC. Is price greater than, less, than, equal too MC in the short run for a monopolistically competitive firm? What does that relationship indicate?
You also speak of the maximizing "benefit." What benefit are you referring to in this case?
Discussion 3 - Microeconomics (150-200 words) - Reply to Jackeline's discussion post based on her answer to questions 1 and 3 from the list of questions provided in the last assignment. The questions are below:
1-What is "monopolistic" about monopolistic competition? What is "competitive" about monopolistic competition?? Please explain.
3-Explain the following statement "If the amount of product differentiation in a monopolistically competitive industry is very small, the outcome in that market will be similar to a perfectly competitive industry."
Jackeline's Reply to these questions:
1.) If I had never taken micro I would never have associated having both monopolistic and competition together as in monopolistic competition to describe a market. It would seem to be a incompatible market structure but I now know it is a common market structure that embraces a number of contradictory aspects.
The monopolistic characteristic is derived from a sector of businesses that for the most part produce a product (rather than provide a service; although this can happen) that is unique from the many others in that sector that produce a very similar product but offer their own "brand of uniqueness. Thus the uniqueness of the product makes each individual producer appear to be a monopoly unto themselves.
The competition element is attributable to all those within this market competing for the same customer.
A real life example would be sneaker companies. Those that focus in on basketball. Nike has Air Jordan and Lebron James sneakers; Adidas has James Harden; Under Armour has Stephan Curry. Each "brand" has a unique element that renders it distinct from the other; and yet they are competing for the very same customers.
3.) One of the hallmarks of a monopolistic competitive market is that there are many producers/sellers in that market but more importantly the products of goods and services sold relative to others they are competing against for those very same customers are not perfect substitutes. There is some unique element that defines them relative to the competition
So if there is only a slight to no variation between the goods and services produced by a monopolistically competitive company the many customers are not going to be able to distinguish between these products which by now have now become identical products in the eyes of the consumer.
At this point where consumers/buyers cannot differentiate one product from another; the only way for the producer to differentiate is through price. A producer will now have to lower their prices in order to differentiate from the other manufacturer, producer, supplier, service provider
As we learned in the past chapters a perfectly competitive market is a market that has many firms selling an identical product. Their only means of differentiating is offering the lowest price -becoming price takers- relative to their competition. In effect having little to no differentiation or uniqueness exposes or transforms monopolistically competitive firms into perfectly competitive firms.